The incoming president of the UN Cop 30 climate summit today called for climate co-operation to be "better equipped" to implement the Paris climate agreement and Cop decisions, including "upgraded global governance" on climate action.
Cop 30 president-designate Andre Correa do Lago today called for "innovative governance approaches" and for the aggregation of "currently fragmented" efforts. This would reinforce the decision-making process for UN climate body the UNFCCC and support the implementation of the Paris agreement, he noted.
Climate advocates including former UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon last year wrote an open letter to the UN calling for a reform of the Cop climate change summits as they said they have failed to deliver change at the speed and scale required.
"Climate change will increasingly supervene and disrupt political and socioeconomic agendas", Correa do Lago wrote in a second letter outlining his priorities for the summit, which will be held in November in Belem, Brazil. The president-designate has previously set out his hopes for Cop 30 to be "a Cop of action".
Correa do Lago acknowledged "serious geopolitical, socioeconomic, and environmental challenges", calling for reinforced multilateralism. And he set out his vision for a "Global Mutirao" — an "unprecedented" global mobilisation of "self-driven" climate action.
Brazil's Cop 30 presidency has set up four "circles of leadership", including one comprised of previous Cop summit presidents, and a "circle of finance ministers". The latter, chaired by Brazil's finance minister Fernando Haddad, will offer advice to the Cop 30 presidency on climate finance issues, from "policy-making perspectives", Correa do Lago wrote.
Climate finance dominated Cop 29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, last year, where countries agreed that developed nations would provide at least $300bn/yr to developing nations by 2035, for climate action and their energy transitions. Countries will this year discuss a promised "roadmap", intended to forge a path to climate finance of $1.3 trillion/yr, but this will likely lie outside formal negotiations.
Correa do Lago today pointed to recent data from the World Meteorological Organisation, which confirmed that 2024 was the hottest year on record. It surpassed the previous record set in 2023.
But his letter failed to mention the key driver of climate change — greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel consumption. Correa do Lago's first letter also neglected the topic, provoking criticism from environmental campaigners.
